According to studies, Australians spent in excess of half a billion dollars on bottled water last year and there are some who doubt that it is worth the price.
First of all, there are few among us who aren't aware that drinking water is an important part of maintaining good health and wellness. In order for your body to run smoothly like the well oiled machine it was designed to be, you need to keep your cells hydrated with good old H2O and plenty of it.
Unfortunately, we live in an age where we are constantly bombarded with harmful additives and chemicals in much of what we eat and drink....including water. Supposedly, bottled water is free of impurities.
But is it?
Jon Dee from Do Something is a campaigner against bottled water and had this to say on the subject regarding price: “It would cost them less than a cent to get the water out of the ground, and yet you're paying $2.50 to $3 a litre, or more for bottled water. That's twice the price of petrol."
Geoff Parker, from the Australasian Bottled Water Institute, asserts that when it comes to bottled water, it’s all about convenience. “Our research shows the number one reason why people buy bottled water is for convenience."
Well, nobody could argue that bottled water isn't convenient. But is it truly healthier for you than the water that flows from your tap?
Two independent laboratories were commissioned by Today Tonight to analyse seven unidentified samples of water. Six of the samples were popular brands of bottled waters, and the seventh was plain tap water. The first lab tested the water samples for:
Mineral Content
Sodium
Potassium
Magnesium
Chloride
Sulphate
Phosphate
Flouride
The second lab tested for bacteria and contaminants. The lab test results showed that tap water had lower sodium levels than some (not all) of the well known bottled brands, as well as slightly higher levels of calcium. Otherwise, there was no significant differences and no noteworthy signs of contamination.
Based on these tests, if you are paying big prices for bottled water not merely for convenience but for your health's sake---you aren't getting your money's worth.
At Canberra University, the sale of bottled water has been banned, making it the first University in the world to do so. According to Canberra University Vice Chancellor Professor Stephen Parker, it's presently the largest community in the world where there's no bottled water sales.
“We couldn't see the case for selling bottled water in circumstances where you’ve got freely available tap water. So we discontinued the sale of all bottled water on campus," Vice Chancellor Parker said.
This is a big change for the university, where there used to be 140,000 water bottles sold annually. These bottled waters have been replaced with free water bubblers and low-cost dispensers with flavored and chilled water.
Australia not only has the first university in the world to ban sales of bottled water, but it can also lay claim to the first town to prohibit such sales. Bundanoon, right up the road from Canberra University, has stopped all bottled water sales.
Based on research conducted in the UK, when the bottled water option is taken away, 75% of people will reach for a higher calorie option such as soda. For that reason, having flavored waters available as are offered at the university is a great idea!
Sales of bottled water have hit a plateau during the past year or so as more and more schools, governments and communities are discontinuing bottled water sales in lieu of tap or filtered water.
Here are Jon Dee's thoughts on drinking bottled water: “At the end of the day it's water in a plastic bottle with a little label. Bottled water is undoubtedly a total rip off and Australians need to wise up to that scam. We have some of the best tap water in the world, and it's about time we starting drinking it.”
So, if you are paying a pretty penny for bottles of water, especially for health reasons, you may want to reconsider the expense!
Yet another aspect of bottled water is the environment. Based on the findings of an American study, there are an estimated 34.6 billion single-serving (1 liter or less) plastic water bottles sold in the US every year. Almost eight out of ten of these bottles end up in a landfill or incinerator. Hundreds of millions more end up as litter on roads and beaches or in streams and other waterways. Taxpayers pay hundreds millions of dollars each year in disposal and litter cleanup costs. That amounts to 877 bottles wasted every second!
In Australia, 2007 research by Clean Up Australia showed that a mere 35% of all plastic bottles were recycled. The rest wound up in landfill sites. Statistics compiled by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) showed that the manufacture and transportation of bottled water is leaving a massive "carbon footprint".
If you are concerned about the health of the earth, giving up bottled water would be an environmentally friendly thing to do!
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